Tree Top Thoughts
by bonessasan
Summary: Kagome finds solitude for her thoughts in a tree. She thinks about none other than Inuyasha of course. But all is not happy in the Warring States Period. What will happen when Inuyasha intrudes on her revery?


One shot. I was reading some other fanfiction and the idea just kind of came to me. I, just like everyone else around here, don't own Inuyasha or anything remotely related to it. I do have a little, white, fluffy dog, but I don't think she has all that much to do with Inuyasha. My first one shot, be gentle!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, so maybe hiding in a tree wasn't such a great idea, but it had seemed clever at the time. Kagome thought about this bitterly as she knew that Inuyasha was undoubtedly looking for her at that very moment. She sat on a thick branch about halfway up the tree, another branch grew at just the right place that she could cross her arms and rest them on the branch comfortably. She rested her head on her crossed arms, lightly swinging her legs as she thought about different things. All the things had one common factor: Inuyasha.  
  
Ever since the day that Mistress Centipede pulled her down the Bone Eater's Well, her life had never been the same. She honestly couldn't say whether it was changed for the better or the worse. Sure, it was hard work, looking for all the pieces of the Shikon Jewel and putting up with Inuyasha's moodiness, but then it was all worth it just to have met him. Kagome had such a longing in her heart that it hurt. No, that wasn't possible. How could someone's heart hurt when they didn't have it anymore? She had given it to Inuyasha, it was no longer her own.  
  
She thought about his appearance. He was different from all the guys she knew, all because he was part demon. He had that long, silver hair, the claws, those fangs that would appear every so often when he was annoyed, and those irresistible fuzzy ears that adorned his head! She remembered her first encounter with Inuyasha, while he was still under Kikyo's spell and bound to the Goshinboku, she had petted and rubbed his ears then. She couldn't help herself. They had been soft, softer than velvet. Something about them was just so endearing to her. And then there were his golden eyes. She felt as if those eyes could pierce through her into her very soul. This was all an illusion of course, seeing as how Inuyasha was too dense to know anything that Kagome was feeling. Kagome sighed. That was just Inuyasha being Inuyasha, the Inuyasha that she loved.  
  
Yes, it was true, she really did love him. She could remember when she would deny it and would never have admitted her love to anyone, especially not herself. She could also remember the day that she finally did admit it to herself. It was both liberating and binding all at the same time. Liberating in that she was finally being honest with herself, and binding in that she now had her love weighing on her conscience.  
  
Then there was Kikyo. The woman that Inuyasha loved. The woman that he was going to become a full human for. Knowing Inuyasha now, Kagome understood how much of a sacrifice that would have been on Inuyasha's part. Although he had the capability to love humans, more often than not he didn't. To become one, all in the name of love . . . it was just amazing to Kagome. Kagome bitterly thought to herself about how Inuyasha would never become fully human for her, not that she would ever ask him to. She loved him as he was, and she didn't care what other people would think. How Kikyo could even ask that of Inuyasha was beyond Kagome.  
  
And of course there was the fact that Inuyasha didn't really care for her all that much. They were almost friends. There were times when he could be nice to her, but usually he was just a jerk. All she would ever be was a jewel shard detector. Well, that, and a liability whenever there was danger. "Oh Inuyasha. How bad could it be if you were to fall in love with me?" she thought.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
While Kagome was caught up in her thoughts, Inuyasha had tracked her down, following her scent. Her scent was so familiar to him. Familiar and comforting. When he found her, she was sitting up in a tree. Funny, he didn't know that she could climb trees. He shrugged his shoulders as he silently leapt from branch to branch to reach where she sat. He sat down next to her, much the same way she was sitting: arms crossed and resting on the branch in front of her, her head resting on her arms. He turned his head without lifting it from his arms so that he could look at her and asked, "So, what are you thinking about?"  
  
Kagome screamed and started falling backward. She didn't get very far, Inuyasha caught her, his arm wrapped around her waist. Kagome blushed at their proximity, then remembered what she had been thinking about and got annoyed.  
  
"It's none of your business," she answered him, an eyebrow twitching.  
  
"Whatever. Why did you come all the way out here? You had me worried when I couldn't find you," Inuyasha said in his usual, rude tone of voice.  
  
"What? Afraid you had lost your precious jewel shard detector?" Her looked dared him to say that was the reason for his worry.  
  
"Huh? No! I would have thought after this long that you would have figured out that that isn't true," Inuyasha said, once again resting his head on his crossed arms, looking forward and not at Kagome.  
  
"If that isn't the reason, then why were you worried?" she asked, it was almost a challenge.  
  
Inuyasha didn't turn his head, but looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He sighed. "Because . . . I was worried about you because . . . . well, you see I . . . . you have to understand that you . . . . I uh, . . . well isn't it obvious?"  
  
One of Kagome's eyebrows rose, as if of its own accord. She stared at Inuyasha quizzically.  
  
When she didn't answer, Inuyasha knew that Kagome probably didn't know. "You have to understand something about me, Kagome."  
  
Kagome cocked her head to the side, wondering what he was going to say.  
  
"It was never easy for me to like people. It's been even harder for me to admit it. Ever since I told Kikyo that I loved her and she stuck me to the tree with her arrow, I've had even more difficulty with it than ever before."  
  
Kagome's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what Inuyasha was trying to say.  
  
Inuyasha saw the look. He sighed. How could he tell her? Why did this have to be so hard? He searched for the right words. He had never been all that good with verbal communication. Finally, after failing to find the right words, he did what he had felt like doing since he first saw Kagome sitting in the tree. He tightly wrapped his arms around her. At first her body was stiff and Inuyasha was terrified that she might not feel the same way he did, but then she relaxed and he felt her arms wrap around him, too.  
  
"What I'm trying to say is that I love you," Inuyasha said into her hair. "When I saw you sitting up here you had this sad look on your face, almost as if you were in pain. I really was worried when I couldn't find you, and then when I did, you seemed like you were suffering. I wanted to know what was the matter. Are you going to tell me what you were thinking about?"  
  
"It's not important anymore," Kagome murmured. "I was wrong about something, but it's nothing to worry about." There was a pause. "Inuyasha?" Kagome asked tentatively, pulling away from him so that she could look into his face.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I love you, too. I promise I won't ever hurt you. I don't think I could bear it if I did."  
  
A strange look crossed Inuyasha's features. He grabbed her into another embrace, this one even tighter than the first.  
  
"Thank you, Kagome. Thank you," he said simply.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I know, I know, this was probably really awful. But when inspiration comes to you late at night, what else can you expect? I would love for you to leave me some feedback. All criticisms welcome, I need all the help I can get if I want to improve my writing! 


End file.
